These disks offer another source of royalty revenue. Sony, Phillips, Ricoh and others should follow shortly with announcements.
HP Announces Industry's First DVD+RW Drive
PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 1999--Hewlett-Packard Company, the marketshare leader of CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) drives, today announced the first DVD+ReWritable drive (DVD+RW), the HP DVD Writer 3100i.
As the need for greater disc space is spurred on by the growing use of multimedia documents, DVD+RW offers business- and home-PC power users the ability to create, share, store and access content-rich documents easily using a single disc, without sacrificing compatibility.
The new HP DVD Writer 3100i drive reads and writes to DVD+RW discs, which have 3.0GB of storage capacity, which is equivalent to 100 minutes of high-quality digital video. In addition to DVD+RW media, the HP DVD Writer 3100i can read DVD-ROM, DVD movie, CD-RW, CD-Recordable (CD-R), CD-ROM and CD audio. DVD+RW discs provide users with the familiar CD experience and do not require a cartridge. DVD+RW discs can be read by DVD-ROM drives at virtually no additional cost. HP is working with DVD-ROM and chip manufacturers to create or adapt products to take advantage of DVD+RW capabilities.
Unlike other rewritable DVD formats, such as DVD-RAM, the new HP DVD+RW drive uses disc media, similar to a CDs. DVD-RAMs require a media cartridge and therefore have limited compatibility. They cannot be read in a DVD-ROM drive unless the drive is altered to accept a cartridge or the cartridge is removed, which compromises the integrity of the disc.
Based on capacity per disc, DVD+RW media provides users with a huge cost benefit over other storage alternatives. At approximately $30 per DVD+RW disc, the cost per MB is less than a penny.
"DVD+RW offers high capacity with fast access time," said Wolfgang Schlichting, research manager, removable storage at IDC. "IDC believes that rewritable DVD technology can become the universal rewritable storage technology for the desktop."
IDC expects the number of DVD-ROM drives sold to grow from 6.1 million in 1998 to 19.2 million in 1999. With the addition of its DVD+RW product category and as the DVD-ROM category grows, HP expects to see large amounts of growth in the DVD+RW market.
"End users need higher capacity and higher performance in removable storage," said Dave Deane, strategic industry manager for DVD+RW at HP. "Our customers have told us that they want a familiar, cartridge-free media, like DVD+RW. The HP DVD Writer 3100i meets this demand."
The HP DVD Writer 3100i is an internal, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) drive that reads and writes DVD+RW media at a speed of 1.25X or 1.7MB/s, which is equivalent to 11X CD-RW write speed. The drive uses constant angular velocity (CAV), which technically gives DVD+RW a throughput advantage over DVD-RAM. Adaptec's Direct DVD, which lets users drag and drop files to DVD disk from Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Explorer or save directly from any application, is included with the drive.
U.S. Pricing and Availability
Limited quantities of the HP DVD Writer 3100i will be available in June to HP's key industry partners. The product is expected to begin shipping worldwide this fall. The expected U.S. street price is $699.(1)
About HP's Information Storage Group
Hewlett-Packard's Information Storage Group (ISG), which focuses on the rapidly growing extended-storage market, manufactures and sells information-storage based on CD, tape, magneto-optical, and DLT technologies. ISG's mission is to be the premier provider of a complete range of storage solutions and media from desktop to departmental and enterprise servers and networks.
About HP
Hewlett-Packard Company -- a leading global provider of computing and imaging solutions and services for business and home -- is focused on capitalizing on the opportunities of the Internet and the proliferation of electronic services.
HP had computer-related revenue of $39.5 billion in its 1998 fiscal year. HP plans to launch a new company consisting of its industry-leading test-and-measurement, semiconductor products, chemical-analysis and medical businesses. These businesses represented $7.6 billion of HP's total revenue in fiscal 1998. With leading positions in multiple market segments, this technology-based company will focus on opportunities such as communications and life sciences.
HP has 123,000 employees worldwide and had total revenue of $47.1 billion in its 1998 fiscal year. Information about HP, its products and the company's Year 2000 program can be found on the World Wide Web at hp.com.
(1) Prices may vary.
Microsoft is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.
Windows is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.
CONTACT:
Hewlett-Packard
Caroline Brown, 970/635-6480
caroline_brown@non-hp-loveland-om2.om.hp.com
or
Eastwick Communications for HP
Alicia Swanson, 617/926-8701
alicia@eastwick.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
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